Unity in Diversity and Colour of Future India

India is a land of diverse cultures, religions and communities. There is great diversity in our traditions, manners, habits, tastes and customs. Each and every region of the country portrays different customs and traditions. But though we speak different languages yet we are all Indians. 'Unity in Diversity' has been the distinctive feature of our culture. To live peacefully has been our motto and this motto has helped us to achieve independence. As history tells us that there has been active participation from people of different caste and religion. In our struggle for freedom people from different communities participated keeping one thing in mind that they all are Indians first. Modern India too presents a picture of unity in diversity where people of different faiths and beliefs live together in peace and harmony. Still today also India remains one of the most ethnically diverse countries in the world.

But today situation is much more different than that of 1947 and there will be more changes in coming days. Our Constitution has given us the Right to live in any part of the country. And as we progress economically, the clusters of separate language, culture and custom start to blend with each other. If you take a lot of colour on a plate and don’t put a barrier in between them, the colour will soon start to intermingle. Today’s India can be accurately described by the above example. There is difference in economical progress in different part of the country and that acts as the catalyst of this blending. Take the example of large cities of the country like Mumbai, Kolkata or Bangaluru. You can find people from all provinces of the country; you can hear dialects of whole India. If you want you can taste custom of any part of the country being well within any part of the city.

Of course there is difference in the dynamics of this blending. The number of people streams in the city like Mumbai or Kolkata from Bihar or U.P is much more than the number of people shifting from Tamil Nadu to other places. It is because of difference in economical growth among these places. Just like the colours with low density spread faster than other colours. The adaptability of local population has nothing to do with it in my opinion. But, heterogeneity in this total process has given birth of some disputes off late. Places like Mumbai or Bangaluru, local population (at least a part of it) felt threatened by the influx of Hindi speaking population. The fear that the culture of Bihar or U.P may swallow the local culture has lead to some unfortunate incidents in Mumbai. May be such incidents will not be uncommon in other cities too and reaction of those in some more places. May be very small in numbers today but those incidents bring us now in front of a question mark. Will we sustain our unity in future in a mixed up society losing the diversity? Or we will maintain our own customs and cultures in different clusters as it is today.

Our enemies kept on speculating how long it will take to break India into pieces. But, to their utter discomfort, for six decades since our independence we live together peacefully and we will do so in future too. Just we have to realize that this blending is a natural phenomenon and people of India can maintain their distinct cultures and practice in a society of many colours.